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#19

Paper Making

By Jet Eagleson

What you need:

Stack of news paper
Old towel
Scrap paper
Blender
Plastic basin (you know, the type you do dishes in, or soak your feet in..)
Wood frame
Fiberglass/plastic screening
Squares of felt or flannel fabric, sized the same as your frame or a bit larger
Fabric starch

First you want to prepare your screen. You will need a wooden frame. An old picture frame is perfect, (img-01), or you can make one from scrap wood in what ever size you want your paper to be, (img-02,03). Just make sure the screen fits flat in your basin. Stretch your screen material tight over the frame and staple in place, (img-04). I used a piece of screen I got at the hardware store for screen repair. They sell it by the length, and it was pretty cheap. You can use either side as the top of the screen. Either the rectangle where the picture fits for a more uniform edge, or the flat side of the frame for a more deckled edge.

You will want a work surface that can get wet. I’m a righty, so I usually set up my basin on the left side of the table and put a few layers of news paper covered with an old towel, to the right.

Tear pieces of your scrap paper and place in the blender with a cup or so of water, (img-05). Different paper will give you different results. I have used office scraps that have had writing on them, and they will give you a bright white paper with tiny black speckles. News print gives a greyish paper with black speckles and makes wonderful sculptures. You can used colored paper, tissue paper, and organic matter to lend texture and color to your paper. I have used fabric dye, water color paint and acrylic for varied results of color. Just remember, the quality of your hand made paper is only as good as the scrap and additives you use. If you want archival quality paper, use archival quality scraps!

Blend the scrap until you have a slurry of fine pulp, (img-06). Bits and chunks are ok if you want that type of texture. Feel free to add water if you need to, (img-07). For a finer paper, blend until the pulp is smooth.

In your basin, you will want to add about three cups of slurry and fill to about two thirds full with clean water, (img-08, 09). This is where you will add one or two teaspoons of the starch, (img-10). Starch gives the paper a bit of a finish, and will help keep ink and paint from feathering on the finished product. This is something that will take experimentation. You need to find just what will work for your application. The more starch you add, the less paint and ink will soak into your finished paper.

Holding your screen flat, submerge into the basin, agitating the water a bit to get the slurry to the top. Lift the screen, still flat… and see if the thickness is where you want it to be. Adjust the amount of slurry to water you add until the thickness is satisfactory. You can always resubmerge the screen, or scoop off the slurry and put it back into the basin and try again, (Img-11, 12, 13, 14, 15)

Once you have a piece you are satisfied with, place a piece of felt/flannel over the paper on the screen, (img-16). You will need to press out most of the excess water. I use a brayer, but you can just press with your hands, or use a can to roll over the fabric. You should then be able to lift the felt carefully and the paper will lift with it. If the paper is stubborn, flip the frame over and carefully lift, leaving the paper and felt on the table, (img-17).

Allow the paper to dry, then peel it away from the felt, (img-18). And there you have it! You can add leaves and flower petals to the slurry for lovely results. I have made wonderful cards with the florals and leaf papers, (img-19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24). Torn squares of tissue will add interest when added to the top of the slurry, just before you pull your screen out of the basin. Any additives will change the archival quality of your paper as well, so do your research! Some one suggested using a flat river stone to burnish the paper smooth. I haven’t tried this yet myself, but it sounds like a wonderful idea!